


Funplace

by Edonohana



Category: New Mutants (Comics), X-Men (Comicverse)
Genre: F/F, Fairs and Festivals, First Kiss, Mutant Powers, Shapeshifting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:20:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28233075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Edonohana/pseuds/Edonohana
Summary: Catseye and Rahne sneak away from a fight to visit a county fair.
Relationships: Rahne Sinclair/Sharon Smith
Comments: 8
Kudos: 28
Collections: Yuletide 2020





	Funplace

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sheliak](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sheliak/gifts).



Catseye leaped over a bolt of flaming lava, swatted away a flying toad-demon, and dodged the Wheel of Fortune that Marie-Ange had summoned from her deck to roll at the New Mutants. From there she had a clear path to Rahne. 

Rahne was in her in-between form, with a two-legs body covered with red-brown fur and the biggest, prettiest ears. She was crouched to spring on Jenny from behind, but before she could, Catseye shifted into her biggest form and pounced. 

Her instinctive calculations of mass and distance and trajectory were perfect. They both went rolling down a slope and landed behind some bushes, well away from the boring fight their teammates had insisted on getting into.

Rahne shifted into her human form. Her hair flamed in the sun, so much brighter in this form than as the wolf. Catseye had never understood why anyone thought humans were pretty, until she had seen Rahne’s hair. 

Catseye too shifted, and her purr became a delighted laugh. “Forget boring fight and hunt with Catseye?”

“I shouldn’t,” said Rahne, looking up the slope. But her body language spoke differently. 

“Forget silly shouldn’t,” said Catseye. “Smoothskin word, means nothing. Good place here. Crunchy mice and tasty squirrels and—”

A movement overhead made them spring apart. A lava bomb splattered the grass where they had been a moment ago.

“This isn’t a safe place to hunt,” said Rahne. “We should—”

Catseye gave her a little shake. “No silly shoulds. Catseye emptystarving! Redfur friend come hunt!”

“I was going to say, does it have to be mice? Smell.” Rahne shifted to her wolf form and sniffed the air. She was so graceful in that form, poised and elegant and beautifully shaggy, that it was a moment before Catseye remembered to do the same.

The breeze carried a delicious scent of roasting meat, along with many other intriguing aromas. Catseye lashed her tail in agreement, and the two of them set off to find the source of the scent. At Rahne’s nudge, they circled around to collect the clothes that weren’t the ones that shifted with them, shifted back briefly to roll them into compact bundles, and picked them up in their jaws. 

Then together they loped through the woods, leaving their teammates far behind. Catseye hoped they were enjoying their battle. She didn’t care for such things, but they seemed to be the price of staying with her friends. It was fun to lurk and pounce, to hide in the shadows and spring forth suddenly, and to drop down from the ceiling upon unsuspecting prey. It was the lengthy fighting that she found tiresome, especially when it was with people with whom she’d rather be doing something else.

On the other hand, fighting the New Mutants meant she got to see Rahne, so she never complained about it to her friends. Besides, she thought some of them felt the same way. Haroun always enjoyed being with Sam and Amara, James liked talking to Dani, and Marie-Ange looked at Xi’an’s glossy black hair the way Catseye looked at Rahne’s heart-of-flame. 

The scent of meat grew stronger, along with many others, sweet and savory and sharp and stinging. She could smell many humans, and hear their chatter along with a great many mechanical sounds and footsteps. Animals, too—lots of animals. That was interesting. As they grew closer, she saw a great wheel, like the one Marie-Ange had summoned to roll at the New Mutants but much larger, rising high above the forest, turning and turning in place.

Rahne dropped her clothes to the ground, shifted to her human form, and got dressed. Catseye followed her. Her tail twitched toward the wheel, but it was hidden beneath her dress, and her ears didn’t swivel in this form. She lifted her human hand and pointed. “Meatplace, yes?” 

“It’s a fair,” Rahne said. 

Catseye summoned the meanings of that word (fare: money, food (archaic), travel (archaic), fair: not stormy, impartial, pale, pretty (archaic)) but like so much smoothskin talk, it didn’t convey much sense. “Meatplace? Wheelplace?” 

Rahne nodded. “Both. Och, well, I’ve never been to one either. In Scotland, I wasn’t allowed. And here, they’re so big and crowded, I was nervous. But I think it would be fun with you.” 

“Catseye and Redfur go funplace,” she said, grabbing Rahne’s little hand. “Ride, eat meat, hunt, yes?”

“Maybe not hunt,” Rahne said doubtfully. “And we have to pay to get in. Do you have any money?”

Catseye wrinkled her nose. It seemed so silly to her that she rarely remembered to bring it. One of her friends would pay for whatever she wanted (often after stopping her from just taking it) and then take a few of her little green papers when they got back home. 

Rahne fished in her pants pocket, pulled out a few folded green papers, counted them, and looked relieved. “I have enough for both of us.”

“Racetime,” said Catseye, showing her teeth. “Quick.”

They raced to the fair, laughing. Catseye’s longer legs gave her the advantage, but Rahne was quick for a small thing. Like a weasel, little and lithe. Hard to catch. Fierce.

They skidded to a halt before they crashed into the crowd. Rahne gave a woman in a tiny building a few of her papers, and then they plunged through the gate and into the fair. 

Rahne drew back slightly, glancing around as if she was afraid something might attack them. Catseye didn’t like that look, which Rahne so often had in her human form. It was so wrong for her. She was a predator, not prey.

“Redfur has sharp teeth,” Catseye reminded her. “Can bite.”

“It’s not that...” Rahne began, then smiled. “Yes. Let’s go bite some meat.”

The fair was full of small open buildings of cloth and wood. Some contained food, some clothing, some toys, and others tests of skill and strength. Rahne handed over more paper, and received skewers of meat in exchange. They tore at the hot juicy meat, ravenous. That was one of the best things about living with humans—cooked meat as well as raw. It tasted very different, but also very good. 

After they’d finished the meat, Rahne bought them hot crisp dough in intricate shapes and doused in powdered sugar. The sugar flew up in dusty clouds every time they took a bite, and settled on their fingers and faces. 

Catseye wanted to lick the powdering of sugar off Rahne’s nose and lips and fingers, but she’d been told again and again that that wasn’t how humans groomed each other. Maybe she could brush Rahne’s hair later, if she could find a hairbrush. Still, that seemed so unsatisfying. Why use an object when the whole point was to touch?

Rahne was eyeing her like she too wanted to lick Catseye clean. Catseye let out a little frustrated growl. Rahne shouldn’t deny her nature. And neither should Catseye. She darted in and licked at Rahne’s lips.

Rahne let out a yelp and jerked backward. “Cats—Sharon! You can’t do that!”

“Need grooming,” Catseye pointed out. 

“We use water,” said Rahne firmly, and led her to a bathroom. 

Catseye splashed herself, sighing. She never would understand smoothskins. Rahne scrubbed her face much harder than she needed to, leaving her skin pink as an apple blossom and making Catseye want to lick it again. She might have, but Rahne distracted her by pointing out the animals.

They looked at juicy fat pigs and sheep too furry to sink your teeth into, nice horses for riding and cows for a lazy hunt with a pack, fierce goats for a challenge and chickens for play. Catseye was disappointed when Rahne explained that none of them were for hunting, but delighted by the various rides. The mechanical bull was especially fun, not terribly difficult but drawing cheers from the crowd. And when they tried some of the skill and strength tests, they not only got cheers, but were given large stuffed animals. They had to stop when they couldn’t carry any more.

Carrying a stuffed white rabbit almost as big as herself (Rahne) and a bright yellow fluffy duck and a big-eared mouse (Catseye), they boarded the Ferris wheel. They sat their animals on either side of them, snuggling up together in the middle. The wheel turned and their seat rose, swinging back and forth. The wheel made a few turns and then stopped just as their seats reached the highest point.

“I’m so glad we came,” said Rahne. “This _was_ more fun.”

“Catseye glad Redfur show funplace,” said Catseye. “Feel heartgood, happywarm always with small Redfur friend.”

Catseye nuzzled Rahne, remembering only after she did it that humans inexplicably didn’t like that. They nuzzled and snuggled in cat and wolf form, but not when humans.

But while Rahne froze, she didn’t turn away. Catseye could feel her heart pound and her breathing quicken. Rahne’s skin was smooth and warm, and touching it with her mouth and cheek made Catseye feel hot like fire. Rahne turned her head, their lips met, and several blissful moments later Catseye realized that this was what humans called kissing. For the first time, she understood why they made such a fuss over it. 

“I’ve never done that before,” Rahne said slowly. “Kissing. Kissing another girl. Reverend Craig would say it was a terrible sin.”

“Show him sin,” said Catseye, baring her blunt teeth. “Catseye bite him!”

Rahne made a gulping sound. Catseye couldn’t tell if it was laughter or tears. “He’s in Scotland. Much too far away for you to bite.”

“Ask sunhair witchfriend,” Catseye suggested. “Brightcircle go to terrible sinman, yes?”

“Oh, Catseye,” sighed Rahne. “It’s so much more complicated than that.”

Catseye didn’t think it was complicated at all. It felt good. It didn’t hurt their friends. What else mattered?

“Be happy in funplace, Redfur,” she suggested. “Be happy with Catseye.”

They kissed again, and this time they only stopped when the Ferris wheel moved again, taking them back down.

When they stepped off, they found both of their teams waiting for them. Some of them spoke with scoldings, but their bodies said they weren’t angry and even their voices were half-hearted. They wore their not-uniform clothes and every single one of them looked happy. Haroun wore a jaunty hat emblazoned with a Ferris wheel, Magik, Sunspot, and Jenny clutched large stuffed animals, Mirage and James were passing a bucket of caramel popcorn back and forth in between scolds, Marie-Ange and Karma were sharing a bright pink ice cream, Cannonball and Badboy were finishing off meat skewers, Magma was daintily biting kernels from an ear of corn, and Cypher had powdered sugar all over his face. Catseye did not feel compelled to lick it off.

“Bathroom,” she said, nudging him. “Smoothskins wash.”

“Come on, Rahne,” said Mirage. “We've all had our fun. Time to go home.”

“Play again soon, little Redfur,” said Catseye. 

“We will,” Rahne replied. "Soon." Her smile was pure wolf.

As the teams headed off in opposite directions, Jenny sang out, “Oooh. I think someone’s in loooo-ooove.”

“Catseye love friend Redfur,” agreed Catseye, wondering why Jenny was using her taunting voice. She normally did that when she sensed fear in others, like a predator singling out the slowest deer in a herd.

“She swings, she misses by a country mile,” said James, looking at Jenny. 

Jenny looked annoyed, then shrugged. “Whatever. Just so long as you don’t switch teams, Sharon. I’ve gotten used to having your tail waving in my face.”

“Catseye stay,” Catseye assured her, lifting her skirt to let her tail wave in Jenny's face. Haroun and Marie-Ange lunged to push it down. “Team friends here. Redfur friend there. Fight again soon?”

“We don’t need to fight them for you to see her,” Marie-Ange said. “You could just… visit. Or she could visit.”

“They’re our enemies,” Jenny said. 

“Are they?” asked Haroun.

Catseye wasn’t paying attention. Rahne’s scent was on her skin and clothes, just as hers must still be on Rahne’s. And even after they bathed and groomed, they would remember the touch of skin to skin and the feel of heart to heart. 

_Soon,_ Catseye thought.


End file.
